Childhood Obesity in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Childhood Obesity in the USA - Essay Example The World Health Organisation explains obesity as the accumulation of excessive or abnormal fat in the body. This excess fat is weakens ones health. The body mass index is pivotal in determining whether one is obese. A child is obese when he has weight above the normal weight estimated for his age and height. The World Health Organisation state that, in order to assess a child’s healthy weight, it is crucial to make a comparison basing on the weight of other children having a similar age and of the same gender. The centre of disease and control provide growth charts utilised by physicians in monitoring the growth of the child. The world health organisation state that children between the age of 2-19 who have a BMI greater or equal to 95thpercentile is obese (Who.int, â€Å"Childhood Obesity†). The American heart association fact sheet indicates that among children aged between 2-19, 1 out of 6 are obese. Statistics estimate that 17.8% of the obese population are boys, whereas, 15.9% of the obese population are girls. The figures quoted by the CDC illustrates that, the proportion of children between the ages 5-17 years considered to be obese has risen in 2008/2009 compared to 1973/1974. In 2009-2010, 16.9% children and adolescents in the states were obese. Statistics show that obesity is prevalent among boys than girls (CDC.gov, â€Å"NCHS data brief.†). There are varied reasons explaining the causes of obesity. The main cause is the unhealthy diet observed by many children coupled with low physical activity. Sedentary lifestyles such as watching TV, spending hours on mobile phone and plating video games are activities common among children of the 21 century. These activities have replaced active exercises such as swimming, playing ball or biking.

Role of Private Sector Organisations in Education Essay

Role of Private Sector Organisations in Education - Essay Example After realising the historical significance of the private sector education that has been since the last 130 years and by considering the upcoming opportunities of commercialising private education, UK Government has stepped forward and invited individual organisation to sponsor schools and cluster of schools in Education Action Zones (EAZs) for up till now more than 850 companies and organisations including charitable trusts have sponsored these zones. Government is encouraging commercial funding for building new schools contracts from the private sector from which it can acquire benefits by saving immediate capital expenditure, but since the companies are hesitated to renew long-term contracts for public funding, school repairs and renovations, therefore the Government is proposing substantial increase. Right from the ICT to the National Lottery, the Government has induced many companies to develop software programs and online content for all types of curriculum and online interactive materials. Local Education Authorities (LEAs) while emphasising on the ways of improving efficiency are well aware that they have to maintain a high attainment target or else they would suffer from negative publicity and reduction in fess. Why Private Schooling The reason for promoting the private education organisations in UK could be defined in two broader contexts: The first is that the maintained education system remained inefficient to fulfil the needs that go in interests of the producers-educational administrators and teachers-while the interests of the consumers-pupils, parents, employers and governments-were being neglected (Aldrich, 2004, p. 4). Privatisation on one hand introduced competition and market forces and reckoned as the best means of ensuring value for money, on other hand privatisation realised that the meeting the diverse needs and expectations of different religious and cultural groups can be met through maintaining a particular rising of standards. It also made the private sector acknowledged that since the state cannot fund educational and private provisions from taxation, therefore the requirements of students in some form or another is inevitable. The second position for encouraging the need for private sector is that since an education system that is public and not private is directed by professionals that prefer to highlight and place the true interests of pupils and students first. Such a situation provokes problems like under-funding which identify smaller classes and limited facilities as the main problem being faced by state schools. Since private firms understand the difference to what it means to supply educational services in terms of profit making and providing better environment for the children, the Government has now proposed a substantial increase for the private sector to play their best part in Education. When we talk about educational development in UK, we are visualising the following: 1) Improvement and enhancing of the current trends of teaching and assessment practices, curriculum design, and learning support including the